The Return of the Century City Farmers Market

Well color me excited! Not even oxygen related challenges could keep me away from the rumor of the return of the Century City Farmer's Market. Word on the mall was that if you crossed over the bridge (over Century Park East) there it would be in its market glory.

And there it was.

I was first met with my favorite flower place. I love these guys. The always have the freshest flowers at the best prices. And, every now and then, like today, they have really odd looking flowers (fuzzy, blood red, and $3, oh my!) which of course I had to buy.

Because all the kids are not crammed up against half a sidewalk anymore, it *looks* smaller. But all of the usual vendors (organic and non-organic fruits and veggies, soap chick, cheese crisp guy, etc...) as well as my favorite vendors (almond guy, Greek guy, previously mentioned flower guy) were all there. And, there were quite a few new ones. Not to mention quite a bit of choices if you want to buy more than fruit and veggies for lunch. There's Korean food, Hawaiian food, African food, Mexican food, and at least 3 other food stalls I don't remember the type (please note the oxygen related challenges above). But, I'm super excited to make this a weekly walk.

So yeah, if you work in Century City or plan on stoppin' by the market, please do! I was told that the vendors are being charged more to sell there so they're trying it for a few months to see if its worth their time. Seriously, the prices and quality are fabulous go spend your money there.

Holy Crap

So, I like to keep up with what's going on with my old firm. Its a wacky bunch and if you're familiar with the Milberg/Lerach kids, I really don't have to explain further. But for everyone else who thinks that class action litigation is only comprised of greedy horrid lawyers, I guess that could be true; but if you worked with my crew, you'd see it differently. My standard for law came from my California attorneys and my standards for staff management came from my San Diego bosses. They ran a tight ship and it freakin' sailed.

But yeah, the firm split in two and you may have heard about the wee indictment thing going on. Its not everyday a whole firm is indicted. So far only one side is named; when I saw this, my only response was "Holy Crap."*

Its at times like that I really do wish I were more articulate.




*mental note, stop abusing semi-colons.

Take a Stand

Yeah, vacation's over...have to work to pay those credit card bills.

Upon my return I was greeted by our newest restaruant, The Stand. Owned by a local family, as I understand it, this is the second in their "chain," the first living in Encino. When we heard rumors of having our own Stand, I inquired with the valley folk and heard nothing but fabulous.



Yeah, they didn't lie. Even with the issues that face a business in their first few days, they were awesome. The food was great, not just in taste but also in quality and presentation. I'm not usually a fan of veggie burgers but I'm totally hooked on this one. I tried one of their saussages but since I'm not really a sausage girl apparently I don't appreciate their selection, or so I've been told. But yeah, if you dig the dogs, you should visit.

Oh, and the fries...yum! And, if you like pickles, they have a huge bin of them that they replenish all the time, so help yourself.

Ok, I need to stop...I'm geting hungry.

Should have mentioned this yesterday.

but I was too overwhlelmed by my new dress.

He was at the mall yesterday.

Get excited.

Get rowdy.

Ok, get back to whatever it was you were doing.

Prettier in person

Every now and then you see celebrities that are actually really amazing in "real life." She seems to have put her own clothes & make-up on, no stylist, no make-up artist, and looked really good.

She was in the lobby of my office building, sitting on the bench, talking with someone. The lobby of my goofy building seems to have that effect on people. That bench is oddly inviting and you see all sorts of pretty people talking on cel phones or waiting for people to come down and meet them.

So yeah, there she was, chatting on her cel phone and then talking to someone; the two of them chatting while sitting on that bench.

Seriously guys, you can't say that wouldn't some secret fantasy. You come out of your little office to grab a soda or coffee and there she is, waiting for you.

A Cold Winter Day in L.A.

Yeah, I'm a wee crazy but I really do find this city pretty.

A Picture is Worth 11 Words

Ok, so that covers work.

Fast forward to dinner time...its about 6:30pm and Dick & Jane and I are out for our nightly walk. Its quiet out. Eerie quiet. Weird quiet. Dick is on high alert, I'm a little freaked out and Jane is just fine, limping along sticking her nose everywhere it shouldn't be. It was like a scene out of a Stephen King novel. Here we are in the middle of this HUGE city and its just silent out, no movement, no noise. Either the world is ending or everyone is out to dinner. Jane, as taught by the zen-master Hanna, knows everyone is out to dinner. Dick & I still aren't so sure.

Happy Valentine's Day - - - hope yours was filled with pretty flowers, yummy treats and lots of people and/or dogs and/or cats to love and torment.

This is how we do it

It was a bit of an odd day today. Check out the cloud that looks like a smoke stack. I watched that happy cloud for most of the morning. (Yes, I was getting work done. I got me mad skillz. I can watch clouds AND work. Seriously, I think I'm underpaid for this sort of talent.) Over time our odd little cloud spread out horizontally so it looked like the other clouds to the right and out of the frame of the picture. But for the first of the morning, seriously, freaky cloud.

Speaking of freaky clouds, spotted in the lobby and I could have sworn I saw him driving himself out of the building...

Lots of pretty people

Ok, for each of the obnoxious comments I've heard from our new neighbors, I've also seen just as many really cute friendly people. And, thanks to the new neighbors, we got us 8 firetrucks of firemen... mmmmm... firemen... and that's always a good thing.

Yeah, its a crap pic, but even TMZ didn't get better pictures of the gas explosion. Besides, when you see a bunch of people sitting on a curb being attended to by firemen (mmm... firemen), you don't want to take pictures of them. And, that's really all we saw of the situation. Well, that and a bunch of building security and parking valet attendants hanging out. Lets be honest, I could take pictures of that everyday.

Night in the Office

same view as yesterday.....but with a bit of a glare.

Sunset from the office

View from Conference Room 4.

Does honesty count if its anonymous?

Ok, so I totally blame dub for this. And I find it fascinating, hence my talking about it again here. And I absolutely invite you to comment. Please...lets all talk about how fabulous and complex I am. Heh.

I find it oddly interesting. But, I'm not finding it interesting for the reasons I thought I would. Four people have tossed in their two cents. Two left their net identities, two didn't. The most recent person to comment, "anon," which by the way is an AMAZINGLY original identity, seems to be the sort to think they know me. I don't mind the less flattering descriptives. Ya'll know self-conscious only scratches the surface of my neurosis (even if I am a goddess surrounded my mere mortals). Nervous and tense are two words they chose and words I would only use to describe myself in very specific, very low points in my life...which leads me to think that I know who "anon" is.

Dude, just leave your initials or something...don't be that guy in the market who only says things when my back is turned.

I don't know. I try to understand how people see me. Sometimes I'm shocked at impressions people have of me, but that's mainly work people. Its a reach to think that people can see past whatever persona you have in a professional environment. And, lets be honest, most people just aren't that interested.

Arena (known to self and others) energetic, loving, self-conscious	Blind Spot (known only to others) bold, caring, complex, confident, extroverted, friendly, giving, knowledgeable, nervous, proud, silly, tense, trustworthy, warm, witty
Façade (known only to self) dependable, intelligent, sympathetic	Unknown (known to nobody) able, accepting, adaptable, brave, calm, cheerful, clever, dignified, happy, helpful, idealistic, independent, ingenious, introverted, kind, logical, mature, modest, observant, organised, patient, powerful, quiet, reflective, relaxed, religious, responsive, searching, self-assertive, sensible, sentimental, shy, spontaneous, wise

All Percentages

able (0%) accepting (0%) adaptable (0%) bold (25%) brave (0%) calm (0%) caring (25%) cheerful (0%) clever (0%) complex (25%) confident (25%) dependable (0%) dignified (0%) energetic (25%) extroverted (50%) friendly (25%) giving (50%) happy (0%) helpful (0%) idealistic (0%) independent (0%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (0%) introverted (0%) kind (0%) knowledgeable (25%) logical (0%) loving (25%) mature (0%) modest (0%) nervous (25%) observant (0%) organised (0%) patient (0%) powerful (0%) proud (25%) quiet (0%) reflective (0%) relaxed (0%) religious (0%) responsive (0%) searching (0%) self-assertive (0%) self-conscious (50%) sensible (0%) sentimental (0%) shy (0%) silly (25%) spontaneous (0%) sympathetic (0%) tense (25%) trustworthy (25%) warm (25%) wise (0%) witty (25%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 22.1.2007, using data from 4 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view radomile's full data.

Priceless

Airplane ticket = $759
Taxi fare = $42
Brochures for meeting with potential client = $61

Not looking like a nimrod carrying your wife's luggage = priceless

The New Kids

If you don't know what CAA is, just think about the kind of people who put together deals worth $200 million for David Beckham and you get the idea. For those of you who know CAA, yeah, the new neighbors.

Now, I'm genuinely happy that they've moved shop to Century City. I've talked about it before and its very cool. Watching my immediate area as well as the mall take a whole new persona has been really cool to witness. However, every good thing comes with a price:

"Look, here are our new neighbors. Aren't they precious?"

This being said in a sing-song sort of voice I use when talking about Lauren and how cute she looks in her new hat. Ok, if I were 9 months old, this would be appropriate. However, I don't care who designed your pants or how much you paid for them at Neimans, you're in Century City now, not Beverly Hills. Deal with it. You can be condescending to us all you want but you need to know that you're now one of us.

I mean, that's the thing most people don't realise about L.A....every little pocket of the city is totally different. Venice & Santa Monica are right next door to each other but the personalities and the people in the neighborhoods are completely different. The same goes for Beverly Hills and Century City. And that's weird 'cause many people who work in Century City live in Beverly Hills but the affect of the areas only split by zip code are completely different.

Example: Working in Century City no one knows or cares about what the labels are in my clothes or handbag. Working in Beverly Hills everyone knows and cares about the labels in your clothes and hanbag and will make an judgement about you in that instant based on the above two. And I'm not saying that Century City is better than Beverly Hills 'cause its not...its just...they're different.

But yeah, we're "precious" because for the most part, Century City isn't the land of large Hermes handbags and hand-tailored suits. But, I wouldn't be surprised if that changed in the next few years.

Backdrops

Yeah, I know, my keyboard is pretty sexy; the Diet Coke can is a fabulous accessory, not to mention the extra pair of "comfy" shoes under the desk. Do I know how to compose a picture or what? I'm overwhelmed just looking at my masterpiece. Though, I have to say, the Hello Kitty eraser has to be the best part.

But, yes, here are the booties in their completed glory. The pom-poms took longer than the actual knitting of the booties. Though, you have to admit that pom-poms make EVERYTHING better. Seriously.

Its weird...I'm more tired today not working crazy hours than I have been working the crazy hours so I wasn't focused on taking any pictures at lunch, hence the gratuitous bootie pics at my desk again. Well, that and Bloomingdale's frowns on people taking pictures while they shop. So, there's that.

Any suggestions for a title?

Today was a weird day. I walk into one of those ASAP projects that you know nothing about until you fire up your email, where you look at the clock at 8:15am and then you look at the clock again and its 10:56am....yeah, one of those. Its been a long time since I've litterally lost time like that. But, I was being stubborn and really wanted to do something my way so I just had to not check personal email and just roll with it.

So, after the hours that time ate, I ventured outside. They're filming something at the not-yet-done building next to mine. Its not often you see production trucks in Century City (compared to downtown where they park on Wilshire EVERY DAY blocking AT LEAST one lane of traffic when I was trying to commute home at the start of rush hour, not that I'm still bitter or anything...) and here's the weird thing: they only seem to film in Century City in unfinished buildings. Remember Nakatomi Tower*? Yeah, unfinished Fox Plaza. At the time, that was like *the* building in Cenurty City. Now this one is. I mean, the amount of business being built around and dependant on this building is crazy.



That's my building in the background. In between the buildings is this pretty park area. You can see the wee signs asking us politely to stay off the grass until the seeds take root. Once everything is done is going to be pretty sweet. In the meantime, we just try to stay out of the contruction workers' way and wait for the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to open up.


*Die Hard

You're going to hear this often

but it doesn't make it less true: I'm heading into a HUGE project and my hours are going to be challenging. I know, I know, its just an excuse, but seriously, its HUGE.

To make up for my abscence yesterday I bring you two rather HUGE events from today.

Ok, so I'm sitting at my desk just working, working, working.

This is Jenna.
"What's going on in the building?"
There's something going on in the building?
"Well, look outside, there are firetrucks everywhere."
[looks outside]
Wow, there are alot of firetrucks. Do you want me to go talk to security?
"No, just call them."
Ok, I'll call you back.

"Security."
Uh, yeah, what's going on?
"There's a fire in the north tower on 26."
Which tower is that? 20-- or 30--?
"30--"
Cool. What should we do? Anything?
"No, stay put. The elevators are locked down and we'll make an announcement if we need you to evacuate."
Ok.

So I relay that information.

Here's my view. Please note all the dots are firetrucks as seen from the 37th floor.


Oh, and I couldn't even get all the trucks into one shot.

Yeah.

Ok, number two ....


Super cute. That was my chair when I was her age so I just couldn't resist a shot when she felt comfy enough to just hang out and take everything in. Seriously, cutest cheecks ever.

Yes, I know. On both counts I should have had my real camera. But, heading into work on a Saturday for a full day...I didn't really think I'd have much time to shoot. So yeah.